ANTHROPOLOGICAL  PAPERS 

OF 

THE  AMERICAN  MUSEUM 
OE  NATURAL  HISTORY 

VOL.  xvii,  PART  II 

COSTUMES  OF   THE  PLAINS  INDIANS 


BY 

CLARK  WISSLBR 


NEW  YORK 

PUBLISHED  BY  ORDER  OF  THE  TRUSTEES 
1915 


American   Museum  of  Natural   History. 

PUBLICATIONS  IN  ANTHROPOLOGY. 


In  1906  the  present  series  of  Anthropological  Papers  was  authorized  by  the 
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ment  of  Anthropology.  The  series  comprises  octavo  volumes  of  about  350  pages 
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anthropological  subjects  appeared  as  occasional  papers  in  the  Bulletin  and  also  in 
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Volume  X. 

I.  Chipewyan  Texts.     By  Pliny  Earle  Goddard.     Pp.  1-66.     1912.     Price, 
$1.00. 

II.  Analysis  of  Cold  Lake  Dialect,  Chipewyan.     By  Pliny  Earle  Goddard. 
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IV.  (In  preparation). 

Volume  XI. 

$ 

I.     Societies  and  Ceremonial  Associations  in  the  Oglala  Division  of  the  Teton- 
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II.     Dance  Associations  of  the  Eastern  Dakota.     By  Robert  H.  Lowie.     Pp. 
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III.  Societies  of  the  Crow,  Hidatsa  and  Mandan  Indians.     By  Robert  H.  Lowie. 
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IV.  Societies  and  Dance  Associations  of  the  Blackfoot  Indians.     By  Clark 
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V.     Dancing  Societies  of  the  Sarsi  Indians.     By  Pliny  Earle  Goddard.     Pp. 
461-474.     1914.     Price,  $.25. 

VI.     Political  Organization,  Cults,  and  Ceremonies  of  the  Plains-Ojibway  and 
Plains-Cree   Indians.     By   Alanson  Skinner.     Pp.   475-542,   and   10  text  figures. 

1914.  Price,  $.75. 

VII.     Pawnee  Indian  Societies.     3y  James  R.  Murie.     Pp.  543-644,  and   18 
text  figures.     1914.     Price,  $1.00. 

VIII.     Societies  of  the  Arikara  Indians.     By  Robert  H.  Lowie.     Pp.  645-678. 

1915.  Price,  $.50. 

IX.     Societies  of  the  Iowa,  Kansa,  and  Ponca  Indians.     By  Alanson  Skinner. 
Pp.  679-801,  and  5  text  figures      1915.     Price,  $1.00. 

X.     Dances  and  Societies  of  the  Plains  Shoshone.    By  Robert  H.  Lowie.    Pp. 
803-835.     1915.     Price,  $.25. 

XI.     (In  preparation) . 

(Continued   on   3d   p.    of  cover.) 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL  PAPERS 

OF 

THE  AMERICAN  MUSEUM 
OE  NATURAL  HISTORY 

VOL.  xvn,  PART  n 

COSTUMES  OF  THE  PLAINS  INDIANS 

BY 


CLARK  WISSLER 
M 


NEW  YORK 

PUBLISHED  BY  ORDER  OF  THE  TRUSTEES 
1915 


ART 


COSTUMES  OF  THE  PLAINS  INDIANS. 
BY  CLARK  WISSLER. 


39 


PREFACE. 

The  following  study  has  as  its  chief  object  not  so  much  the  mere  descrip 
tions  of  certain  types  of  garments  among  the  Indians  of  the  Plains  as  the 
presentation  of  a  typical  trait  in  material  culture  and  the  development  of 
the  problems  involved.  In  a  former  paper  on  the  Material  Culture  of  the 
Blackfoot  Indians  some  attention  was  given  to  the  forms  and  distributions 
of  men's  shirts  and  women's  dresses  in  order  to  determine  the  place  of  Black- 
foot  culture  in  the  Plains  group.  This  paper  presents  some  of  the  results 
obtained  by  a  far  more  intensive  study  of  specimens  from  the  Plains  area 
as  a  whole.  The  specimens  described  are  from  the  Museum's  collections, 
particularly  from  the  collection  presented  by  J.  P.  Morgan  in  1910;  but 
the  writer  is  under  obligation  to  Dr.  Walter  Hough  of  the  United  States 
National  Museum,  A.  C.  Parker  of  the  New  York  State  Museum,  C.  C. 
Willoughby  of  the  Peabody  Museum  at  Cambridge,  and  to  Dr.  Fay  Cooper 
Cole  of  the  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  for  equally  important  data 
from  their  respective  institutions. 

The  structural  analysis  of  the  specimens  was  largely  the  work  of  my 
assistant,  Mr.  S.  Ichikawa,  who  is  to  that  extent  a  joint  contributor.  The 
drawings  should  also  be  credited  to  him. 

August,  1915. 


41 


EHOLD  ART 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

PREFACE          ...  41 

INTRODUCTION         ....  .  .45 

MEN'S  GARMENTS  .         .  .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        51 

WOMEN'S  GARMENTS       .  ......        65 

HISTORICAL  RELATIONS 67 

SUMMARY 90 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 
TEXT  FIGURES. 

1.  A  Nez  Perce  Shirt t        .  47 

2.  A  Dakota  Shirt      .                  48 

3.  A  Gros  Ventre  Shirt 49 

4.  A  Man's  Shirt  of  the  Poncho  Type 50 

5.  Diagram  showing  how  a  Skin  is  cut  and  folded  to  make  a  Shirt  of  the 

Poncho  Type       .         .                 .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  52 

6.  Diagram  showing  the  Arrangement  of  Pieces  cut  from  the  Preceding     .  53 

7.  Shirt  Patterns  for  Men          .         . 54 

8.  Shirt  Patterns,  continued       .........  55 

9.  Shirt  Patterns,  concluded       .                  .                  56 

10.  Pattern  of  a  Naskapi  Coat    .  .  .58 

11.  Man's  Coat  of  Deerskin,  Thompson      .......  59 

12.  Man's  Coat,  Gros  Ventre 60 

13.  Man's  Coat  of  Deerskin,  Onondaga 61 

14.  Man's  Coat  of  Deerskin,  Cayuga           .......  62 

15.  Pattern  for  Preceding  Coat 63 

16.  A  Woman's  Dress,  Crow       ......       t .         ...  64 

17.  Contour  of  an  Elkskin            .                          65 

18.  A  Woman's  Dress,  Yakima    .........  66 

19.  Dress  Patterns .         .         .         .         .  68 

20.  Dress  Patterns,  continued      .                                                     ...  69 

21.  Dress  of  Blue  Strouding,  Brule      .                          70 

22.  A  Cloth  Dress,  Plains-Ojibway .73 

23.  A  Cree  Dress  in  the  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History      ...  74 

24.  A  Dress  of  Deerskin,  Saulteaux    .         ....         .         .         .76 

25.  Reverse  of  the  Preceding  Garment     • 77 

26.  Patterns  for  Parts  of  the  Dress  shown  in  Figs.  24-25          .         .'       .  78 

27.  Distribution  of  the  Plains  Type  of  Woman's  Dress     .         .         .         .  87 

28.  Cape  Patterns  for  Women     .         .                  88 


43 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  anthropological  literature  of  some  years  ago  gave  considerable 
attention  to  problems  in  the  development  of  industrial  processes.  The 
genetic  relation  of  inventions  as  traits  of  culture  were  sought  in  a  more  or 
less  world  wide  objective  comparison.  The  order  of  the  method  was  to 
retrace  by  logical  analysis  the  steps  by  which  a  given  technical  process  was 
developed.  Thus,  such  arts  as  fire-making,  stone  chipping,  pottery,  etc., 
were  intensively  studied  and  their  more  complex  forms  analyzed  to  seek 
for  the  elemental  or  beginning  processes,  with  the  idea  of  ultimately  recon 
structing  the  evolution,  or  history,  of  each.  Some  years  ago  such  studies 
were  energetically  pursued  and  consequently  occupy  a  large  place  in  the 
literature  of  that  time.  They  finally  came  into  some  disrepute  because  of 
their  extreme  dependence  upon  the  logical  relations  observed  to  the  disre 
gard  of  facts  of  geographical  distribution  and  culture  history.  As  soon  as 
it  appeared  that  the  logical  sequence  as  determined  by  the  analysis  of  the 
process  in  question  was  not  consistent  with  the  geographical  and  other 
facts,  confidence  was  lost  in  the  method  and  a  reaction  set  in  toward  the 
other  extreme.  The  result  is  that  for  some  years  anthropologists  have 
ignored  the  whole  problem  of  the  genetic  or  historical  development  of  man's 
material  culture.  The  problem  is,  of  course,  none  the  less  real  for  that. 

The  following  investigation  was  undertaken  in  the  anthropological  labo 
ratory  of  the  Museum  with  the  view  of  raising  anew  the  question  as  to 
the  validity  of  the  method  of  logical  analysis.  The  subject  chosen  was 
the  dress  of  the  North  American  Indians  of  the  Plains  and  adjacent  terri 
tories.  The  method  was  to  study  intensively  the  types  of  dress  and  their 
structural  processes  in  the  Plains  area  and  then  to  extend  the  study  less 
intensively  to  the  continent  and  to  the  world  at  large. 

We  shall  base  our  discussion  almost  wholly  upon  two  types  of  garment, 
the  man's  shirt  and  the  woman's  dress.  The  sharp  contrast  that  now 
exists  between  the  costumes  of  European  men  and  women  is  not  observable 
among  primitive  peoples,  the  rule  is  for  the  sexes  to  use  the  same  funda 
mental  pattern.  Thus,  if  the  men  wear  trousers,  the  women  do  also, 
although  the  cut  may  be  different.  It  is  chiefly  owing  to  this  that  we  can 
make  effective  use  of  the  dress  of  both  sexes  among  the  Plains  Indians.  In 
passing,  one  may  remind  the  reader  that  this  difference  in  the  degree  of 
contrast  between  the  costumes  of  men  and  women  is  not  a  distinguishing 
characteristic  between  primitive  and  civilized  peoples  for  like  most  phe 
nomena  of  cultures  the  European  divergence  in  patterns  has  a  definite 
historical  explanation. 

45 


Fig.  1(1-2721).     A  Nez  Perce  Shirt.     Collected  about  1865.     The  pattern  is  shown  in 
Fig.  7  a. 


Fig.  2  (50.1-301).     A  Dakota  Shirt.     For  pattern  see  Fig.  76. 


48 


Fig.^3  (50-4277).     A  Gros  Ventre  Shirt.     This  is  part  of  the  regalia  for  the  dog  dance, 
this'series,  vol.  1,  255.     For  pattern  see  Fig.  8g. 


41) 


,f  '  ^»y^#£?^ 


Fig.  4  (50-841).  A  Man's  Shirt  of  the  Poncho  Type.  This  specimen  is  made  of  two 
deerskins.  There  are  bands  of  quillwork  over  each  shoulder,  fringed  on  one  side  with  crow 
feathers.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  fold  is  a  transverse  band  of  quillwork.  See  Bulletin  of 
this  Museum,  vol.  18,  fig.  95.  The  tail  tuft  is  discernible  on  the  lower  edge  and  the  dewclaws 
are  still  attached  to  the  leg  projections.  Collected  in  1838. 


50 


MEN'S  GARMENTS. 

If  one  take  a  typical  man's  shirt  of  the  Plains  area  and  suspend  it,  the 
sleeve  and  shoulder  line  will  be  found  horizontal  and  to  coincide.  In  other 
words  there  is  a  neck  hole,  but  no  collar  (Fig.  4).  If  on  the  other  hand,  one 
suspend  a  true  coat  (Fig.  11),  the  familiar  European  sleeve  and  shoulder 
cut  is  seen.  This  may  be  generalised  by  classing  the  former  as  of  the  poncho 
type  and  the  latter  as  of  the  coat  type. 

First,  we  may  note  the  structure  of  the  poncho  type.  Fig.  4  represents 
a  specimen  collected  about  1838.  There  is  another  old  specimen  in  the 
Nez  Perce  collection  (Fig.  1).  A  more  modern  specimen  is  shown  in  Fig.  2. 
A  simpler  but  old  and  interesting  specimen  is  Fig.  3.  From  these  sketches 
the  general  pattern  concept  is  clear.  Two  whole  skins  of  mountain  sheep 
or  other  ruminants  are  taken  and  cut  as  in  Fig.  5.  Thus,  the  peculiar  con 
tour  of  sleeve  extensions,  or  capes,  is  explained  as  also  that  of  the  skirt 
(Fig.  6).  The  whole  pattern  of  this  type  of  shirt  is  seen  to  be  correlated 
with  the  contour  of  the  natural  material,  and  it  seems  most  probable  that 
it  was  this  form  of  the  material  that  suggested  the  pattern. 

'  The  former  distribution  of  this  type  of  shirt  cannot  be  precisely  stated, 
but  so  far  we  have  found  it  to  prevail  among  the  Dakota,  Nez  Perce,  Gros 
Ventre,  Blackfoot,  Crow,  Hidatsa-Mandan,  Pawnee,1  Assiniboin,  Arapaho, 
Ute,  Comanche,  Kiowa,  and  Cheyenne.  It  occurs,  but  less  universally 
among  the  Sarsi,  Plains-Cree,  and  Ojibway  on  the  north  and  on  the  south 
among  the  Apache  and  in  the  pueblo  of  Taos. 

Our  museum  collection  contains  about  forty  shirts  of  this  poncho  type, 
all  of  which  we  have  examined  in  detail.  Among  them  we  find  many  minor 
variations  in  pattern,  but  so  far  as  we  can  see  these  are  all  adjustments  to 
the  coat  type  and  to  new  materials  and,  hence,  due  to  white  contact.  The 
tendency  to  use  cow  skins  and  cloth  is  very  strong  and  in  these  materials 
the  natural  contour,  the  base  of  the  pattern,  is  wanting.  This  is  particu- 


1  "A  jacket,  made  like  a  shirt,  of  beaver  or  otter  skins,  and  ornamented  with  beads,  was 
highly  coveted,  and  was  beyond  the  command  of  any  but  the  privileged  few.  The  finest 
article  of  Indian  apparel  I  ever  saw  was  one  of  these  jackets  made  from  four  otter  skins.  The 
body  was  formed  of  two  pelts,  and  each  arm  of  one.  The  skin  of  the  head,  tail,  feet  and  even 
the  claws  of  all  the  animals  were  preserved  intact  in  the  garment,  and  the  whole  richly 
trimmed  with  beads.  Similar  garments  were  also  made  of  fine  cloth,  fringed  with  swan's 
down,  and  heavily  beaded."  —  Dunbar,  The  Pawnee  Indians,  Magazine  of  American  History, 
IV,  280. 

According  to  James  R.  Murie  thes?  shirts  were  so  rare  that  they  should  be  ignored, 
the  fact  being  that  Pawnee  men  did  not  wear  upper  garments  of  any  kind,  simply  a  robe. 


\ 
/ 


51 


52 


Anthropological  Papers  American  Museum  of  Natural  History.  [Vol.  XVII ^ 


larly  noticeable  in  the  cut  of  the  bottom  as  shown  in  Figs.  7-9.     In  most 
cases  this  curve  is  simplified  by  dropping  the  tail  projection  in  the  center ,\  tfv 
observable  in  the  older  type,  Fig.  76,  but  in  one  Arapaho  piece  we  find  an 
interesting  rectangular  cut  at  the  corresponding  point,  Fig.  7e. 

A  comparison  of  the  tops  of  these  sketches  shows  that  the  shoulder 


Fig.  5. 
Type. 


Diagram  showing  how  a  Skin  is  cut  and  folded  to  make  a  Shirt  of  the  Poncho* 


extensions  tend  to  become  true  sleeves  and  the  sides  of  the  shirt  are  often 
entirely  or  partially  sewn  up  in  which  case  a  vertical  cut  is  made  on  the 
breast  at  the  neck  without  which  it  would  be  next  to  impossible  to  get  into 
the  garment.  The  older  ponchos  have  neither  fronts  nor  backs,  both  sides 
being  alike,  but  many  of  the  modern  variants  have  a  distinct  front.  It  is- 


1915.] 


Wissler,  Plains  Costume. 


53 


chiefly  these  variations  in  association  with  slight  inessential  modifications 
calling  to  mind  features  of  European  shirts  that  suggest  that  we  have  in 
Fig.  7a  and  76  the  original  type  of  poncho  for  men  in  the  Plains  area. 

This  is  further  reinforced  by  a  study  of  sleeve  forms  which  in  the  older 
skin  specimens  follow  the  patterns  of  Figs.  7a  and  7c.  The  sleeve  pattern 
of  Fig.  8i  is  found  most  often  in  cloth  and  distinctly  modern  skin  pieces. 

So  far  we  have  concerned  ourselves  with  the  pattern  alone,  but  the  most 
characteristic  features  of  these  ponchos  are  decorative.  In  all  specimens 
of  the  older  type  these  take  approximately  the  same  forms.  The  most 
conspicuous  of  these  features  are  the  broad  beaded  or  quilled  bands.  These 


Fig.  6.     Diagram  showing  the  Arrangement  of  Pieces  cut  from  the  Preceding. 


are  made  on  separate  strips  of  skin  and  readily  detached  from  the  shirt. 
From  each  side  of  the  neck  a  band  runs  along  the  shoulder  seam  almost  to 
the  ends  of  the  sleeves.  At  right  angles  to  this  so  as  to  fall  over  the  shoul 
ders  like  suspenders  are  two  other  bands,  one  for  each  side.  At  the  neck, 
both  front  and  back,  are  triangular  flaps  also  bearing  beaded  and  quilled 
decorations.  The  edges  of  these  bands  are  often  strung  with  rows  of 
feathers,  strips  of  white  weasel  skins  or  human  hair.  It  is  due  to  the  latter 
that  these  ponchos  are  often  called  "scalp-shirts."  In  the  older  types 
particularly,  the  edges  of  the  body  and  sleeves  were  notched  and  fringed. 
These  characteristics  were  almost  universal  but  there  are  in  addition,  tribal 


a 


Fig, 7  (1-2721,  50.1-301,  50.1-1186,  1-2712,  50.1-37,  50.1-653).     Shirt  Patterns  for  Men 
aNezPerce;  b  Dakota;  c  Dakota;  dNezPerce;  eArapaho;  /Crow. 


54 


Fig.  8  (50-4277,  50-7863,  50.1-304,  50.1-761,  50.1-7370,  50.1-7212).     Shirt  Patterns, 
continued:  g  Gros  Ventre;  h  Dakota;  i  Dakota;  j  Arapaho;  fcOjibway;  I  Cheyenne?.    .      .,; 


55 


56 


Anthropological  Papers  American  Museum  of  Natural  History.  [Vol.  XVII, 


and  regional  decorations.  Thus,  many  Blackfoot  ponchos  bear  large 
circular  designs  on  the  breast  and  back.  According  to  Maximilian,  this 
was  formerly  common  among  the  Assiniboin  and  a  few  other  northern 
tribes.  Dakota  ponchos  in  particular,  are  frequently  painted  in  two  ground 
colors,  bearing  heraldic  devices.  The  beaded  or  quilled  bands  have  tribal 
peculiarities  also.  In  another  paper  of  this  series  we  shall  consider  the 
probable  origins  of  these  various  decorations. 


Fig.    9    (50.1-1303,   50.1-1301,   50.1-6321,   50.1-926). 
Apache;   n  Cheyenne;   o  Kiowa;   p  Pawnee. 


Shirt    Patterns,    concluded:    m 


Returning  to  the  coat-like  features  of  the  more  modern  forms  of  poncho, 
we  may  be  reminded  that  the  coat  form  is  not  necessarily  of  European 
origin.  The  Eskimo  and  most  Dene  tribes  cut  a  coat-like  garment  that 
fits  the  neck  and  shoulders  and  has  sleeves,  but  the  best  known  and  most 
distinctly  coat-like  form  is  that  of  the  Naskapi,  Fig.  10.  Here  the  pattern 
is  most  clearly  cut  to  fit  the  human  form  as  in  European  tailoring.  With 


1915.]  Wissler,  Plains  Costume.  57 

slight  variations  this  pattern  extends  through  the  Cree  to  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains  and  thence  to  the  Salish  of  British  Columbia.  It  even  dips  into  the 
Plains  as  shown  in  the  old  Gros  Ventre  specimen  (Fig.  12). 

The  garments  of  the  western  Dene  area  are  not  very  well  known,  but 
in  Alaska  some  of  the  modern  natives  wear  a  coat  with  flaring  skirts  like 
the  Naskapi  and  certain  Siberian  styles.  It  is  therefore  probable  that  the 
Naskapi  form  is  aboriginal  and  not  due  to  European  influence.  Thus,  in 
certain  Iroquois  skin  coats  we  find  a  clear  attempt  to  cut  a  close-fitting 
garment,  suggesting  the  styles  of  colonial  days  (Fig.  13).  Some  other 
skin  coats  in  the  collection  are  cut  in  a  simpler  pattern,  but  still  show  the 
same  intent.  If  we  compare  these  with  the  Naskapi  pattern  the  difference 
is  clear,  for  here  a  large  piece  of  skin  is  taken  for  the  back  and  two  for  the 
front.1  The  flaring  effect  is  produced  by  one  or  more  triangular  inserts. 
In  many  Iroquois  coats  there  is  a  cut  down  the  median  plain  of  the  back, 
a  feature  noted  in  the  coats  of  many  eastern  Algonkin  tribes  and  some  of 
the  Dene.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Naskapi  mode  of  side  seams  is  noted 
among  the  Sarsi,  Ojibway,  Menomini,  Winnebago,  and  Penobscot.  It 
seems  therefore  that  the  poncho  form  and  the  Naskapi  coat  form  have 
their  parallels  among  other  tribes,  but  that  in  contrast  to  these  we  have  a 
decidedly  European-like  cut  of  coat  extending  from  the  Iroquois  through 
Canada  to  the  Salish. 


i  The  Naskapi  winter  coat  is  usually  sewed  up  in  front.  We  find  that  a  whole  skin  is 
taken  for  the  back  piece,  the  tail  at  the  bottom,  and  the  sides  trimmed  to  give  a  waist  and  the 
flaring  skirt.  The  neck  piece  forms  the  pendant  collar  and  the  sides  are  pierced  to  give  the 
shoulder  lines.  The  front  of  the  coat  is  of  a  whole  skin  like  the  back,  but  cut  down  through 
the  middle.  In  the  coats  with  sewed  up  fronts  this  is  curious,  because  the  maker  cuts  the 
skin  in  halves  and  then  sews  it  up  again. 


58 


58 


Fig.  12  (50-1924).  Man's  Coat,  Gros  Ventre.  An  old  specimen  made  of  dressed 
buffalo  skin.  The  pattern  is  simple,  the  body  being  a  single  piece  of  skin.  In  addition  to  the 
attached  collar  the  coat  is  composed  of  but  three  pieces. 


60 


Fig.   13   (50.1-1775).     Man's  Coat  of  Deerskin,  Onondaga. 


til 


Fig.  14  (50-6532).  Man's  Coat  of  Deerskin,  Cayuga,  collected  by  M.  R.  Harrington, 
1907.  This  is  a  unique  example  of  tailoring  skill,  for  a  boy's  coat  was  split  down  the  back, 
pieces  inserted,  and  a  skirt  added.  The  beaded  tomahawks  were  formerly  the  tail  ornaments 
of  the  small  coat.  Notwithstanding  its  composite  pattern,  the  lines  of  the  body  have  been 
closely  followed.  Worn  by  William  Henry  Fishcarrier,  a  Cayuga  chief.  Photographed  with 
coat,  Plate  LXIV,  Twenty-first  Annual  Report,  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology. 


Fig.  16  (50.1-654).  A  Woman's  Dress,  Crow.  An  entire  elkskin  is  taken  for  each  side. 
A  cape-like  yoke  is  formed  of  two  pieces  as  above,  and  sewed  in  place.  The  tail  projection  on 
6  hangs  loosely  over  a  corresponding  one  on  a. 


64 


1915.] 


Wissler,  Plains  Costume. 


65 


Fig.  17.     Contour  of  an  Elkskin.     In  tanning,  the  hair  is  left  on  the  tail  and  the  feet. 
Two  of  these  skins  are  required  to  make  a  dress.     See  Figs.  16  and  18. 


WOMEN'S  GARMENTS. 

The  costume  for  women  is  in  its  fundamental  technique  similar  to  that 
for  men.  Taking  a  Crow  specimen  as  the  type  (Fig.  16)  we  see  that  three 
pieces  of  skin  are  used:  an  inserted  yoke  and  two  large  pieces  for  the  skirt. 
The  sides  are  sewed  up  from  the  bottom  of  the  skirt  almost  to  the  cape-like 
extension  at  the  shoulders.  There  are  no  sleeves,  but  the  cape-like  shoulder 
piece  falls  down  loosely  over  the  arms.  The  side  seams  and  the  bottom 
and  all  outer  edges  are  fringed.  The  garment  has  neither  front  nor  back, 
both  sides  being  the  same. 

The  technical  concept  is  again  a  garment  made  from  two  whole  skins, 
in  this  case,  elkskins.  A  dress  is  formed  by  placing  two  whole  skins  face 
to  face,  the  tail  ends  at  the  top,  the  head  at  the  bottom.  The  neck  is  fitted 
and  the  yoke  formed  by  the  insertion  of  a  transverse  piece  of  skin.  Very 
little  trimming  is  needed  to  shape  the  sides  of  the  skirt. 

The  distribution  of  this  pattern  concept  so  far  as  we  were  able  to  de 
termine  by  the  study  of  specimens  is:  Arapaho,  Assiniboin,  Apache, 
Blackfoot,  Crow,  Cheyenne,  Comanche,  Dakota,  Gros  Ventre,  Hidatsa, 
Kiowa,  Nez  Perce,  Northern  Shoshoni,  Plains-Cree,  Sarsi,  Ute,  Yakima. 

We  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  variations  in  the  pattern.  While 
the  fundamental  form  holds  throughout  the  above  distribution,  there  are 
a  number  of  distinct  cuts  for  the  contour  of  the  yoke  and  the  bottom  of  the 
skirt.  Yet,  there  is  very  little  variation  within  the  tribe,  it  is  truly  sur 
prising  how  precisely  each  of  the  tribes  we  have  studied  followed  a  definite 


/ 


66 


Anthropological  Papers  American  Museum  of  Natural  History.   [Vol.  XVI I , 


form  for  the  bottoms  of  their  dresses,  making  it  clear  that  they  had  a  fixed 
mode,  or  style  for  the  cut.  This  will  be  more  fully  discussed  in  another^ 
connection. 


Fig.  18  (50.1-1965).  A  Woman's  Dress,  Yakima.  The  pattern  differs  from  the  preced 
ing  in  that  there  is  no  insert  at  the  top,  merely  a  folding  over  as  indicated.  Separate  curved 
pieces  are  inserted  at  the  bottom  to  give  the  required  contour. 

— i.  European  trade  brought  within  the  reach  of  these  tribes  the  finest  of 
cloth.  A  special  quality  known  as  strouding  was  always  popular  and  from 
the  very  first  was  substituted  for  skins  in  making  garments.  This  new 
material  had  a  shape  of  its  own  and  consequently  presented  a  new  problem 
to  the  Plains  dressmaker.  One  example  is  shown  in  Fig.  21.  A  more 
common  way  was  to  take  a  rectangular  piece  of  cloth,  cut  a  neck  hole  in  the 


1915.]  Wissler,  Plains  Costume.  67 

middle,  join  the  sides  by  triangular  inserts  and  add  shoulder  extensions. 
In  many  cases  the  bottom  of  the  skirt  is  cut  out  to  conform  to  the  old  style. 
Thus  it  is  clear  that  the  original  two  skin  concept  was  able  to  prevail  over 
the  introduction  of  new  materials. 

When  we  turn  to  ornamentation  we  find  these  dresses  quite  decorative. 
In  contrast  to  men's  ponchos,  we  find  the  tail  of  the  elk  falling  in  the  center 
of  the  breast,  but  like  them  in  the  tendency  toward  horizontal  decorations 
with  quills  and  beads.  While  there  is  considerable  tribal  variation  in 
decoration,  the  general  tendency  is  to  bead  or  quill  more  or  less  completely^ 
the  entire  yoke.  The  edges  of  the  yoke  and  the  skirt  are  usually  fringedj 
and  sometimes  the  latter  faced  with  a  narrow  band  of  beads.  Upon  the* 
body  of  the  skirt  will  be  found  a  varying  number  of  pendant  thongs.  Among 
the  Blackfoot  symbolic  devices  of  red  cloth  are  often  found  near  the  bottom 
of  the  skirt  and  similar  attachments  are  noted  on  some  Sarsi,  Crow,  and 
Assiniboin  dresses. 

HISTORICAL  RELATIONS. 

One  general  problem  arising  from  this  study  is  the  historical  relations 
between  the  several  varieties  of  costume  which  in  turn  naturally  leads  to 
that  other  question  as  to  whether  structural  similarities  can  be  .taken  as 
-evidence  for  genetic  relationship.  The  subject  may  be  best  presented  by 
reviewing  the  literature  now  available. 

West  of  the  Plains  Area  we  have  a  large  extent  of  territory  in  which  no 
upper  garment  of  this  kind  appears.  The  men  tend  toward  nudity  while 
the  women  wear  a  short  skirt.  The  upper  garment  usually  takes  the  form 
of  a  cape  or  is  simply  a  robe.  This  is  the  case  in  California  and  some  parts 
of  the  Shoshonean  area  but  on  the  whole  the  Shoshonean  tribes  incline 
toward  the  types  we  have  described.  In  the  Columbia  River  region  and 
northward,  particularly  among  the  Salish,  we  again  find  the  poncho  types 
of  the  Plains.  The  data  furnished  by  Teit  for  the  Thompson,  Shuswap, 
and  Lillooet  are  sufficiently  detailed  to  permit  of  an  analytic  comparison. 
In  the  first  place  we  find  the  poncho  shirt  for  men.1  The  most  distinctively 
poncho  in  type  is  a  Thompson  specimen,  (16-1057,  Teit,  Fig,  162),  made 
from  a  single  piece  of  buffalo  skin.  There  are  no  sleeves  and  the  bottom 
is  cut  square;  the  sides  are  laced  somewhat  as  in  Plains  shirts,  but  the  neck 
is  different.  There  is  a  circular  neck  hole  with  a  vertical  slit  on  the  breast 
and  a  collar  is  set  on  the  edges  of  the  hole.  This  we  are  assured  was  the 


1  The  Thompson  Indians  of  British  Columbia  (Memoirs,  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History,  vol.  2,  part  4,  New  York,  1900). 


f 


Fig.  19.     Dress  Patterns:    o  Yakima;    b  Nez  Perce;    c  Blackfoot;   d  Sarsi;   e  Crow;   f 
Assiniboin. 


(58 


Fig.  20.     Dress  Patterns,  continued:    a  Dakota  (an  alternate  pattern  is  shown  in  Fig. 
27);   b  Cheyenne;   c  Shoshoni;   d  Ute;   e  Arapaho;  /  Kiowa. 


70 


Anthropological  Papers  American  Museum  of  Natural  History.  [Vol.  XVII, 


style  for  the  buffalo  skin  shirts.  On  the  other  hand,  there  were  buckskin 
shirts  made  of  a  single  piece  but  with  short  sleeves  (Fig.  163,  Teit).  In 
these  again  we  have  a  circular  neck  hole  but  no  collar.  There  is  yet  another 
type  of  man's  upper  garment,  a  true  coat,  previously  noted.  The  cut  of 
the  neck  is  again  as  in  the  ponchos.  Thus,  the  o\ie  distinctive  feature  in 
Thompson  ponchos  and  coats  is  the  cut  of  the  neck,  it  being  to  all  intents 
a  coat  cut  and  even  in  ponchos  often  fitted  with  a  collar. 


Fig.  21  (50.1-314).  Dress  of  Blue  Strouding,  Brule.  Most  cloth  dresses  in  the  Plains 
are  similar  in  pattern.  The  front  and  back  may  be  one  piece  with  a  hole  cut  for  the  head. 
The  sides  may  be  trimmed,  but  usually  they  are  not.  Angular  pieces  are  inserted  at  the  sides. 

One  other  man's  garment  should  be  noted.  The  entire  skin  of  a  wolf 
or  other  animal  was  often  worn  over  a  poncho  or  coat,  not  so  much  as  an 
extra  protection  as  for  ceremonial  purposes. 

The  women  of  the  Thompson  wore  a  shirt-like  dress  with  sleeves  cut 
very  much  like  the  man's  coat.  It  was  open  on  the  shoulders  and  laced 
there.  The  bottoms  were  square  cut.  As  an  under  garment  they  wore 
a  shirt  of  woven  materials  or  a  buckskin  bodice. 


1915.]  Wissler,  Plains  Costume.  71 

This  introduces  us  to  another  feature  of  Thompson  clothing,  the  weav 
ing  of  bark  and  hair.  Garments  of  this  material  were  confined  to  skirts 
and  capes.  Where,  as  among  the  Lillooet  and  Lower  Thompson,  they 
were  in  general  use  (Teit,  219),  skin  ponchos  and  coats  were  rare.  As  the 
weaving  of  bark  and  hair  is  widely  distributed  in  this  area  and  is  practically 
universal  among  the  Salish,  it  seems  most  likely  that  the  skin  poncho  and 
the  coat  are  due  to  influence  from  the  east.  We  failed  to  find  close  structural 
parallels,  however,  between  the  Plains  type  and  these  skin  garments,  they 
being  more  like  the  coat  type  of  the  north.  Yet  Teit  states 


The  shirts  worn  by  the  men  reached  halfway  to  the  knees,  and  were  generally 
made  of  two  doe  or  buck  skins  sewed  together  (necks'  down).  The  sleeves  were  wide, 
and  the  neck  was  furnished  with  a  lacing.  The  hind-legs  of  the  skin  formed  the 
sleeves;  and  along  the  entire  length  of  the  back  of  each  was  a  fringe  of  cut  skin,  this 
being  the  only  ornament.1 

This  is  essentially  the  structural  concept  of  the  Plains.     Again,  the  same 
writer  says  of  the  Shuswap  :  — 

Some  women's  shirts  had  wide  sleeves  and  two  flaps  turned  down  from  the  neck 
which  reached  to  the  middle  of  the  chest  and  back  respectively.  These  flaps  were 
cut  in  various  shapes  but  most  commonly  they  were  square.  They  were  fringed 
along  the  bottom,  and  ornamented  with  quills;  beads,  and  shells.- 

Here  also  we  have  what  reads  like  the  accounts  of  the  Plains-Cree.3  It 
also  reminds  one  of  the  dress  now  found  among  the  Apache  in  the  south. 
All  this  makes  it  clear  that  the  structural  concept  of  the  Plains  must  have 
been  in  at  least  partial  use  among  the  Salish,  along  with  the  coat  concept. 
We  see,  however,  that  underlying  these  forms  were  the  much  more  common 
garments  of  woven  materials  following  patterns  of  their  own. 

Turning  now  to  the  east,  we  find  another  important  variant  among  the 
Plains-Cree  and  some  of  the  Ojibway,  our  data  taking  us  back  to  the  period 
of  first  exploration. 

For  the  Cree  we  may  quote  from  Mackenzie  :  — 

The  coat,  or  body  covering,  falls  down  to  the  middle  of  the  leg,  and  is  fastened 
over  the  shoulders  with  cords,  a  flap  or  cape  turning  down  about  eight  inches,  both 
before  and  behind,  and  agreeably  ornamented  with  quill-work  and  fringe;  the  bottom 
is  also  fringed,  and  fancifully  painted  as  high  as  the  knee.  As  it  is  very  IQOSC,  it  is 
enclosed  round  the  waist  with  a  stiff  belt,  decorated  with  tassels,  and  fastened  behind. 

1  Teit,   ibid.,   206. 

-  Teit,  The  Shushwap  Indians  (Memoirs,  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  vol.  2, 
part  4,  New  York,  1909),  502. 

3  Harmon,  D.  W.,  A  Journal  of  Voyages  and  Travels  in  the  Interior  of  North  America, 
New  York,  1904,  275. 


72  Anthropological  Papers  American  Museum  of  Natural  History.  [Vol.  XVII, 

The  arms  are  covered  to  the  wrist,  with  detached  sleeves,  which  are  sewed  as  far  as 
the  bend  of  the  arm;  from  thence  they  are  drawn  up  to  the  neck,  and  the  corners  of 
them  fall  down  behind,  as  low  as  the  waist.1  ^ 

Harmon2  gives  a  somewhat  fuller  statement,  but  one  that  is  curiously 
like  that  of  Mackenzie:  — 

The  shirt  or  coat,  which  is  so  long  as  to  reach  the  middle  of  the  leg,  is  tied  at  the 
neck,  is  fringed  around  the  bottom,  and  fancifully  painted,  as  high  as  the  knee. 
Being  very  loose,  it  is  girded  around  the  waist  with  a  stiff  belt,  ornamented  with  tassels, 
and  fastened  behind.  The  arms  are  covered  as  low  as  the  wrists  with  sleeves,  which 
are  not  connected  with  the  body  garment.  These  sleeves  are  sewed  up,  as  far  as  the 
bend  of  the  arm,  having  the  seam  the  under  side;  and  extend  to  the  shoulders,  be 
coming  broader  toward  the  upper  end,  so  that  the  corners  hang  down  as  low  as  the 
waist.  They  are  connected  together,  and  kept  on,  by  a  cord,  extending  from  one 
to  the  other,  across  the  shoulders, 

Again  we  have  the  statement  of  Henry :  — 

The  shift  or  body-garment  reaches  down  to  the  calf,  where  it  is  generally  fringed 
and  trimmed  with  quill-work;  the  upper  part  is  fastened  over  the  shoulders  by  strips 
of  leather;  a  flap  or  cape  hangs  down  about  a  foot  before  and  behind,  and  is  orna 
mented  with  quill-work  and  fringe.  This  covering  is  quite  loose,  but  tied  around 
the  waist  with  a  belt  of  stiff  parchment,  fastened  on  the  side,  where  also  some  orna 
ments  are  suspended.  The  sleeves  are  detached  from  the  body-garment;  from  the 
wrist  to  the  elbow  they  are  sewed,  but  thence  to  the  shoulder  they  are  open  under 
neath  and  drawn  up  to  the  neck,  where  they  are  fastened  across  the  breast  and  back. 
—  Journal  of  Henry  and  Thompson,  514. 

Grinnell 3  says  of  the  Blackf oot :  — 

The  ancient  dress  of  the  women  was  a  shirt  of  cowskin,  with  long  sleeves  tied  at 
the  wrist,  a  skirt  reaching  half-way  from  knees  to  ankles,  and  leggings  tied  above 
the  knees,  with  sometimes  a  supporting  string  running  from  the  belt  to  the  leggings. 
In  more  modern  times,  this  was  modified,  and  a  woman's  dress  consisted  of  a  gown 
or  smock,  reaching  from  the  neck  to  below  the  knees.  There  were  no  sleeves,  the 
armholes  being  provided  with  top  coverings,  a  sort  of  cape  or  flap,  which  reached  to 
the  elbows.  Leggings  were  of  course  still  worn.  They  reached  to  the  knee,  and 
were  generally  made,  as  was  the  gown,  of  the  tanned  skins  of  elk,  deer,  sheep,  or 
antelope.  (196). 

In  early  times  the  Assiniboin  women  are  said  to  have  dressed  like  the 
Cree  (vol.  5,  137). 


1  Mackenzie,  Alexander,  Voyages  from  Montreal,  on  the  River  St.  Lawrence,  through 
the  Continent  of  North  America,  to  the  Frozen  and  Pacific  Oceans,  in  the  years  1789  and  1793, 
etc.,  London,  1801,  XCIV. 

2  Harmon,  ibid.,  275. 

»  Blackfoot  Lodge  Tales,  New  York,  1903. 


Fig.  22  (50.1-7369).  A  Cloth  Dress,  PI ains-Ojibway,  Cowesses  Reserve,  Saskatchewan. 
The  front  and  back  are  the  same,  the  garment  hanging  from  the  shoulders  by  the  decorated 
straps.  In  this  case  a  modern  calico  sleeved  waist  was  worn  as  an  upper  garment. 


73 


Fig.  23.  A  Cree  Dress  in  the  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History.  The  material  is  deer 
skin  throughout.  The  skin  is  folded  over  at  the  top  and  on  the  shoulders  there  are  laces. 
Collected  in  Manitoba. 


74 


1915.]  Wissler,  Plains  Costume.  75 

For  the  Eastern  Dakota  we  have  the  early  account  of  Carver  1  which 
is  not  so  explicit  but  is  supplemented  by  a  drawing :  — 

Such  as  dress  after  their  ancient  manner,  make  a  kind  of  shift  with  leather,  which 
covers  the  body  but  not  the  arms.  (229). 

In  the  illustration  the  women's  upper  garment  appears  to  be  joined  over 
the  shoulders,  possibly  by  straps. 

It  is  clear  that  all  these  observers  are  reporting  upon  the  same  general 
type  of  costume  which  possesses  new  features  as  the  detached  cape-like 
sleeves,  the  shoulder  straps,  and  the  turned  down  flaps.  A  specimen  of 
this  type  from  the  Ojibway,  though  somewhat  modernized,  will  be  found 
in  Miss  Densmore's  volume  on  Chippewa  Music  (II,  223).  Here  we  find 
the  separate  sleeves  and  a  skirt  held  up  at  the  shoulders  by  straps.  It  is 
also  stated  that  formerly  a  blanket  was  taken  for  the  skirt  and  the  surplus 
length  folded  down  at  the  breast  upon  which  decorations  were  placed.2  This 
tallies  very  well  with  the  remarks  of  Harmon  and  Henry  and  is  thus  readily 
identified. 

In  1913  Mr.  Skinner  observed  a  Plains-Ojibway  (Manitoba)  woman 
wearing  a  cloth  skirt  of  this  form,  Fig.  22.  The  shoulder  straps  and  the 
intervening  flap  are  decorated.  Instead  of  the  detached  sleeves,  she  wore 
a  simple  calico  waist  cut  like  a  modern  shirt.  It  was  ascertained,  however, 
that  formerly  detached  sleeves  were  worn  with  these  skirts.  There  is  a 
similar  cloth  skirt  in  the  Museum's  Penobscot  collection  but  without  the 
shoulder  bands  or  the  ornamental  flaps.  Again  at  Lake  St.  Joseph,  Mr. 
Skinner  collected  a  complete  skin  costume  in  this  style,  (Figs.  24-25).  Here 
we  see  the  turned  down  flap  in  front  and  behind. 

Dr.  Hough  informs  us  that  in  the  Turner  collection  at  the  United  States 
National  Museum  there  is  ti  doll  from  the  Nenenot  dressed  in  this  .type  of 
costume.  The  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  has  a  dress  from  the 
Plains-Cree  which  is  also  of  this  type,  (Fig.  23).  In  this  we  see  the  de 
tached  sleeves  extending  over  the  shoulders  to  the  neck.  The  dress  is  open 
across  the  entire  top  and  laced  at  the  sides.  The  turned  down  flap  noted 
by  early  observers  is  here  also. 

It  is  well  to  note  the  structural  peculiarity  of  this  type,  for  instead  of 
the  coat-like  shirt  of  some  Salish  we  have  an  upper  garment  reduced  to  a 
pair  of  large  sleeves  extending  over  the  shoulders  to  the  neck  and  held 
together  only  by  a  stnn#,  while  the  skirt  is  almost  full  length  and  held 
above  the  breasts  by  shoulder  straps,  instead  of  being  hung  to  the  waist. 

1  Carver,  John,  Travels  through  the  Interior  Portions  of  North  America  in  the  years 
17<><>.  '(>7,  and  '68,  London.  1781. 

-  Also  Plate  17  in  Schoolcraft.  part  5. 


Fig.  24  (a,  50-8000;   b,  50-7999,  c,  50-8001).     A  Dress  of  Deerskin,  Saulteaux,  from  Lake 
St.  Joseph,  Ontario,     a,  the  sleeves  as  seen  from  the  back;   b,  the  skirt;   c,  the  leggings. 


76 


Fig.  25.     Reverse  of  the  Preceding  Garment. 

77 


78 


Anthropological  Papers  American  Museum  of  Natural  History.  [Vol.  XVII, 


Mr.  Willoughby  has  described  two  old  specimens  credited  to  the  Plalns- 
Cree.1  In  these  specimens  we  find  a  dress  made  of  two  rectangular  pieces 
of  skin,  one  piece  forming  the  skirt  and  the  other  the  waist.  The  former ' t, 


Fig.  26.  Patterns  for  Parts  of  the  Dress  shown  in  Pigs.  24-25.  a,  throat  strap  for  hold 
ing  sleeves  in  place;  /;,  b'  shape  of  piece  forming  sleeves;  c,  c'  shoulder  straps;  d,  d'  pieces  to 
form  the  skirt;  e,  piece  for  legging. 

lias  the  seam  at  the  side  and  is  thus  very  much  like  an  Algonkin  slit  skirt. 
The  waist  is  peculiar  in  that  it  is  double.     He  says:  — 

The  piece  forming  the  upper  portion  of  the  garment  is  folded  horizontally 
through  the  center,  then  perpendicularly  in  the  middle.  A  slit  is  cut  through  the 
upper  half  of  the  second  fold  for  one  arm.  The  upper  folded  edges  aro  joined  over 


American  Anthropologist,  vol.  7,  1905,  p.  640. 


1915.]  Wissler,  Plains  Costume.  79 

the  shoulders  with  a  short  strap  and  thongs,  but  the  side  for  the  other  arm  is  left 
open.1 

Somewhat  like  this  was  the  method  of  wearing  robes  among  many  of 
the  Algonkins,  viz.,  to  fasten  their  edges  over  one  shoulder  and  leave  the 
other  arm  free.2  It  seems,  therefore,  quite  probable  that  in  this  curious 
folded  waist  to  the  dress  we  have  a  modified  form  of  the  robe  or  blanket. 
The  probability  of  this  is  increased  by  the  data  as  to  sleeves.  Willoughby 
has  made  very  clear  the  general  use  of  one  or  two  detached  muff-like  sleeves 
among  the  Algonkin  of  the  east  and  since  the  preceding  quotations  leave 
no  doubt  as  to  the  use  of  such  sleeves  by  the  Cree  at  the  time  when  these 
dresses  were  worn,  one  may  suspect  that  their  association  has  a  historical 
basis.  / 

Thus  this  extension  of  our  quest  for  types  has  taken  us  into  the  eastern  V 
region  of  the  skirt-like  garment.  It  appears  that  everywhere  in  the  United 
States  east  of  the  Mississippi,  except  among  some  Siouan  and  Central 
Algonkin  tribes  the  women  wore  a  skirt  fastened  at  the  waist.  One  form 
of  this  is  often  spoken  of  as  the  Algonkin  slit  skirt,  though  it  was  used  by 
the  Iroquois  and  perhaps  a  number  of  southern  tribes.  It  even  found  its 
way  into  the  southern  Plains. 

Thus  Dunbar  gives  us  a  very  definite  statement  for  the  Pawnee: — 

The  dress  of  the  women  consisted  of  moccasins,  leggins,  tightly  laced  above  the 
knee,  and  reaching  to  the  ankles,  a  skirt  covering  from  the  waist  to  below  the  knee, 
mid  a  loose  waist  or  jacket  suspended  from  the  shoulders  by  straps.  The  arms  were 
bare,  except  when  covered  by  the  robe  or  blanket.  The  garments  of  the  women, 
other  than  the  moccasins,  were  made,  if  the  wearer  could  afford  it,  of  cloth,  otherwise 
of  some  kind  of  skin,  dressed  thin  and  soft.  —  Magazine  of  American  History,  IV, 
p.  268. 

Probably  the  same  kind  of  garment  was  used  by  the  Cheyenne  for  we 
read  in  the  account  of  Long's  Expedition  that:  — 

Their  costume  is  very  simple,  that  of  the  female  consisting  of  a  leathern  petti 
coat,  reaching  the  calf  of  the  leg,  destitute  of  a  seam,  and  often  exposing  a  well- 
formed  thigh,  as  the  casualties  of  wind  or  position  influence  the  artless  foldings  of 
the  skirt.  The  leg  and  foot  are  often  naked,  but  usually  invested  by  gaiters  and 
mockasins.  A  kind  of  sleeveless  short  gown,  composed  of  a  single  piece  of  the  same 
material,  loosely  clothes  the  body,  hanging  upon  the  shoulders,  readily  thrown  off, 
without  any  sense  of  indelicacy,  when  suckling  their  children,  or  under  the  influence 
of  a  heated  atmosphere,  displaying  loose  and  pendant  mammir.  A  few  are  covered 
by  the  more  costly  attire  of  coarse  red  or  blue  cloth,  ornamented  with  a  profusion 
of  blue  and  white  beads:  the  short  gown  of  this  dress  has  the  addition  of  wide  sleeves 


1  American  Anthropologist,  vol.  7,  N.  S..  640. 

2  I  bit!..  504. 


80  Anthropological  Papers  American  Museum  of  Natural  History.  [Vol.  XVII, 

| 

descending  below  the  elbow;  its  body  is  of  a  square  form,  with  a  transverse  slit  in 
the  upper  edge  for  the  head  to  pass  through;  around  this  aperture,  and  on  the  upper 
side  of  the  sleeves,  is  a  continuous  stripe,  the  breadth  of  the  hand,  of  blue  and  whiteV 
beads,  tastefully  arranged  in  contrast  with  each  other,  and  adding  considerable 
weight  as  well  as  ornament  -to  this  part  of  the  dress.  Around  the  petticoat,  and  in 
a  line  with  the  knees,  is  an  even  row  of  oblong  conic  bells,  made  of  sheet  copper,  each 
about  an  inch  and  a  half  in  length,  suspended  vertically  by  short  leathern  thongs  as 
near  to  each  other  as  possible,  so  that  when  the  person  is  in  motion,  they  strike  upon 
each  other,  and  produce  a  tinkling  sound.1 

Mr.  A.  C.  Parker  of  the  State  Museum  in  Albany  supplies  the  following 
information  as  to  Iroquois  costume :  — 

I  have  found  that  these  early  Indian  women  did  wear  a  tunic  or  over  dress  made 
of  two  deerskins  fastened  into  a  sort  of  sleeveless  gown.  The  necks  of  the  pelts 
were  trimmed  off  in  most  cases  and  holes  were  made  in  the  side  of  the  skin  through 
which  cords  of  buckskin  were  drawn  to  fasten  it  together.  This  was  done  by  two 
methods,  either  through  large  holes  into  which  the  buckskin  was  run  as  a  tape  or 
run  through  smaller  holes  placed  in  pairs  which  were  tied  together  in  short  strings 
that  hung  down  in  front.  These  garments  were  not  always  fringed  at  the  side, 
although  I  am  told  that  they  were  mostly  so.  There  was  a  short  poncho  that  was 
made  by  folding  a  single  skin  in  the  middle  and  cutting  a  hole  for  the  neck.  This 
garment  was  often  so  short  that  it  did  not  reach  the  waist.  It  was  never  fastened 
by  a  belt,  so  that  the  skin  of  the  body  was  often  visible  under  the  flapping  garment. 
The  Algonkin  slit  skirt  was  an  Iroquois  garment  in  the  sense  that  the  women  once 
wore  it.  I  am  told  that  in  early  times  this  garment  was  made  by  simply  folding  the 
skin  about  the  body  and  tying  a  broad  band  of  buckskin  at  the  waist.  The  skin  was 
folded  down  over  this  band,  securing  it  effectually.  The  older  garments  were  not 
sewed  at  the  side;  the  slit  was  generally  over  the  left  leg  which  permitted  the  limb 
to  be  bared  and  used  as  a  sort  of  work  board  upon  which  buckskin  strings  were  rolled 
between  it  and  the  hand.  Hemp  strings  were  also  twisted  in  this  way,  that  is  to 
say,  rolled  into  shape.  In  later  times  when  broadcloth  came  into  use,  garments  of 
that  material  were  patterned  after  the  old  buckskin  skirt,  although  usually  the  cloth 
garment  was  sewed  up  the  side.  In  most  cases,  however,  there  was  a  short  strip 
reaching  part  way  to  the  knee  on  the  right  side,  left  either  partly  open  or  simply 
basted  together. 

As  to  the  dress  patterns,  my  inquiries  have  shown  that  the  necks  of  skins  formed 
the  bottom  of  the  dress  and  never  the  top.  I  was  told  that  sometimes  the  men  used 
the  tails  at  the  neck  but  that  the  women  did  not.2  The  long  pieces  formed  by  the 
fore  legs  and  neck  were  usually  drawn  to  the  side  and  slashed  in  the  fringe,  but  most 
of  the  neck  was  entirely  trimmed  off.  The  reason  apparently  being  that  the  leather 
was  too  thick  and  so  easily  stiffened  that  it  was  not  an  ornament.  One  of  my  infor 
mants,  said  that  the  fringe  formed  by  the  fore  legs  was  regarded  as  an  attractive  part 
of  the  ornamentation,  since  it  hung  down  at  the  side  longer  than  the  rest  and  lay  upon 

1  Long's  Expedition,  1823,  vol.  3,  p.  47. 

2  It  is  curious  how  widespread  was  the  use  of  the  tail  as  an  ornament.     Willoughby 
quotes  Levett  to  the  effect  that  in  New  England  deerskin  mantles  were  valued  more  if  bear 
ing  a  perfect  tail  (Ibid.,  504).     They  occur  in  Naskapi  coats  and  then  generally  westward 
down  through  the  Plains. 


1915.]  Wissler,  Plains  Costume.  81 

the  skirt  below.  For  this  reason  the  front  of  the  dress  sometimes  presented  a  "U" 
shaped  outline,  that  is  to  say,  the  cut  was  so  made  that  it  was  in  a  semicircular  shape 
from  one  side  to  the  other. 

Of  the  women  of  New  England  we  read :  — 

The  women's  robes  were  longer  and  fuller  than  those  of  the  men.  Instead  of  one 
deer  or  bear  skin  two  were  sewed  at  full  length.  These  garments  were  so  long  as  to 
drag  on  the  ground  'like  a  great  ladies  train.'  —  Willoughby,  American  Anthropolo 
gist,  vol.  7,  505. 

Before  taking  up  the  interesting  points  raised  by  these  new  data  we  may 
give  a  moment's  consideration  to  the  slit  skirt.  The  drawings  of  John 
White,  presumably  of  Virginia  Indians  in  1585  show  women  wearing  two 
aprons  one  before  and  one  behind,  showing  as  they  hang  a  slit  on  either 
side.  While  this  is  not  strictly  speaking  a  slit  skirt,  the  sketches  give  one 
much  the  same  appearance.  The  skirt  is,  however,  a  single  piece  of  skin 
and  most  likely  an  entire  deerskin.  The  conventional  cloth  skirts  as  worn 
by  modern  Indian  women  have  one  peculiarity,  a  trailing  strip  at  the  slit. 
Now,  if  a  deerskin  were  taken  and  drawn  around  the  body  in  the  natural 
way  to  form  such  a  skirt,  the  neck  and  tail  pieces  would  come  together  at 
the  side  and  the  skin  of  one  fore  and  one  hind  leg  would  hang  down  the  side 
of  the  leg.  This  would  give  us  the  same  effect  as  is  obtained  in  the  cloth 
skirt  by  the  pendant  strip.  While  this  is  as  yet  no  definite  proof  that  this 
is  the  history  of  the  slit  skirt,  it  must  be  given  great  probability  since  we 
find  the  forms  of  Plains  garments  due  to  similar  conditions. 

To  return  to  our  consideration  of  upper  garments  we  find  an  interesting 
distribution  for  the  detached  sleeve.  Thus,  while  the  Iroquois  women 
wore  a  poncho-like  upper  garment,  it  had  no  sleeves  and  was  quite  like  an 
abbreviated  Plains  dress.  The  idea  of  sleeves  as  a  separate  and  distinct/ 
garment  thus  extends  over  the  Eastern  Woodlands  and  into  the  Plains, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  the  Iroquois. 

If  we  take  the  continent  as  a  whole,  we  find  a  great  sleeveless  area,  com 
prising  the  greater  part  of  the  Southeastern  states,  the  Southwest,  Cali 
fornia,  and  the  North  Pacific  Coast.  In  the  north,  we  have  the  Eskimo, 
Dene,  and  Northern  Algonkin  areas  universally  using  the  true  sleeve. 
Then  in  the  intermediate  territory  as  among  the  Salish,  the  Plains,  and  . 
Eastern  Woodlands,  a  mixed  area.  Among  practically  all  of  the  Eastern  ! 
Woodland  tribes  within  the  United  States  a  toga-like  upper  garment  was 
worn  with  a  single  sleeve  for  the  exposed  arm.  This  was  fastened  by  a 
string  so  as  to  be  readily  taken  off  in  case  of  need.  In  the  Ojibway  and 
Western  Cree  country  the  toga-like  garment  disappears  and  two  sleeves 
are  used,  but  still  hung  by  a  string  so  that  the  arms  can  be  freed  at  will.  In 


82  Anthropological  Papers  American  Museum  of  Natural  History.  [Vol.  XVII, 

| 

pattern,  these  sleeves  were  closed  only  from  the  waist  to  the  elbow,     ^ow 
in  the  Plains,  particularly  in  the  north  in  proximity  to  the  Cree,  we  find  ^ 
some  of  the  sleeves  for  women's  dresses  formed  by  closing  up  the  edge  of  * 
the  cape  from  elbow  to  wrist.     We  also  find  in  the  inverted  yoke  of  the  Nez 
Perce,  etc.,  a  piece  of  skin  not  unlike  that  necessary  for  such  sleeves.     In 
men's  shirts  we  have  also  noted  the  same  tendency  toward  closed  sleeves 
and  structurally  the  older  form  of  sleeve  (p.  52)  is  not  unlike  that  used  by 
Ojibway  women.     Hence,  this  distribution  suggests  that  the  belt  of  mixed 
sleeve  types  is  due  to  opposing  influences  from  the  sleeveless  and  sleeved 
areas  respectively. 

This  brings  us  to  an  important  phase  of  the  problem;  viz.,  in  how  far 
can  such  data  take  us  in  historical  interpretation?  After  having  cited  the 
mere  facts  of  distribution  as  above  can  we  safely  say  that  the  peculiar  inter 
mediate  forms  of  sleeve  are  intrusive  adjustments  and  as  such  represent 
diffused  traits  from  the  north? 

The  first  thing  that  suggests  itself  is  to  examine  the  structural  concepts 
to  see  how  much  they  may  have  in  common.  If  we  turn  to  the  Atlantic 
Coast  we  find  a  people  wearing  a  robe  for  an  upper  garment  which  is  fastened 
over  the  left  shoulder,  leaving  the  right  arm  unprotected.  This  impresses 
one  as  a  type  of  costume  ill-adapted  to  the  winter  climate  of  the  latitude 
of  New  York  and  raises  the  suspicion  that  it  was  devised  by  a  people  living 
farther  south.  Further,  we  see  an  attempt  to  adapt  it  to  the  climate  by 
the  addition  of  a  single  sleeve  for  the  right  arm.  This  may  well  be  regarded 
as  a  specific  invention  and  not  necessarily  suggested  by  the  coat-like  gar 
ments  of  the  north.  In  fact,  one  must  suspect  that  contact  with  coat- 
wearing  people  would  lead  to  the  adoption  of  the  coat  in  toto,  as  we  find  the 
Indian  did  later  from  the  colonists.  The  idea  of  an  arm  covering  could 
readily  have  come  from  a  legging,  or  even  less  specific  sources,  simply  the 
idea  of  wrapping  up  in  something.  This  is,  of  course,  speculative,  but  it 
is  well  to  note  the  seeming  greater  probability  that  we  have  here  a  specific 
invention  and  not  a  case  of  incomplete  borrowing.  Elsewhere  we  have 
shown  that  the  tendency  in  material  culture  seems  to  be  the  taking  over 
of  trait  complexes  as  wholes  and  not  in  isolated  fragments '  by  which  the 
probability  of  this  being  an  independent  invention  is  heightened. 

If  now  we  take  up  the  Ojibway  sleeve  we  find  it  on  a  costume  of  a  dif 
ferent  kind.  The  concept  here  is  not  a  skirt  hung  from  the  waist  but  a 
longer  one  suspended  from  the  shoulders  so  as  to  cover  the  breasts.  In 
such  a  garment  both  arms  as  well  as  the  shoulders  are  equally  exposed.  In 
this  case  a  rout  would  seem  the  most  natural  solution.  \Ve  are,  of  course, 

i  American  Anthropologist,  vol.  1(5,  491. 


1915.]  Wissler,  Plains  Costume.  83 

dealing  with  the  women's  clothing  for  Ojibway  men  wore  a  sleeved  shirt. 
Yet,  the  women  sometimes  used  the  eastern  slit  skirt  with  a  sleeved  jacket. 
Hence,  that  the  Ojibway  women  did  not  exclusively  use  a  sleeved  jacket 
when  such  could  not  have  been  unknown  to  them,  makes  it  clear  that  some 
other  factors  are  involved.  In  the  foregoing  type  we  have  again  the  con 
cept  of  a  sleeve  fastened  to  the  neck  by  a  string,  encasing  the  fore  arm  but 
hanging  loosely  over  the  upper  arm  and  the  shoulder.  So  far  as  we  have 
data  there  are  no  essential  differences  from  the  sleeve  of  the  Eastern  Algon- 
kin.  The  important  point  here  is,  that  a  pair  is  used  instead  of  one.  The 
reason  for  this,  appearing  that  this  body  costume  leaves  both  arms  exposed. 
Since  the  Ojibway  through  their  various  divisions  were  at  one  time  in  touch 
with  the  main  body  of  Algonkin  tribes  and  have  several  material  traits  in 
common,  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  the  detached  sleeves  of  both  had  a  common 
origin.  On  purely  logical  grounds,  one  must  suspect  that  the  Ojibway 
were  acquainted  with  the  single  sleeve  costume  before  they  took  to  a  pair, 
but  this  may  be  far  from  the  truth. 

The  next  case  in  which  technological  descent  is  suggested  is  the  cape 
and  sleeves  found  in  certain  Plains  dresses.  Thus,  if  we  took  an  Ojibway 
costume  and  sewed  the  shoulder  extensions  of  the  sleeves  to  the  front  and 
back  of  the  skirt  we  should  have  essentially  the  same  garment  as  found 
among  the  Nez  Perce  and  some  neighboring  tribes.  In  fact  the  structural 
agreement  is  so  close  that  a  historical  relationship  can  scarcely  be  denied. 
Thus,  in  the  skirt  as  described  by  Harmon,  Henry,  Teit,  et.  al.,  the  two 
skins  from  which  it  was  made  were  folded  down  at  the  top  and  the  deco 
ration  made  upon  the  pendant  flap,  and  in  some  of  the  Plains  dresses  we 
find  a  similar  folding  over  before  the  material  is  sewed  down  to  the  neck 
piece.  Again,  the  shape  of  the  inserted  neck  piece  or  yoke  is  about  the 
same  as  the  piece  one  would  cut  for  the  Ojibway  sleeve.  It  may  also  be 
noted  that  the  decorations  of  Plains  dresses  are  in  every  case  on  the  part 
of  the  dress  corresponding  to  the  pendant  flap  of  the  Ojibway  type.  Hence, 
it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  independent  steps  that  would  lead  to  these 
correspondences. 

Though  the  origin  of  the  Plains  woman's  skirt  is  somewhat  obscure,  it 
seems  to  be  a  structural  concept  of  two  entire  skins  joined  in  a  definite 
manner,  the  tails  at  the  top,  the  necks  at  the  bottom.  Since  the  skirt  covers 
the  entire  person  and  hangs  from  the  shoulders  without  sleeves,  one  must 
again  suspect  that  a  genetic  relation  exists  between  this  dress  and  the  Ojib 
way  type  although  it  is  not  so  convincing  as  the  case  of  the  sleeves  because 
the  fundamental  structural  concept  is  merely  the  use  of  two  skins.  While 
this  concept  is  clear  in  the  Plains,  it  appears  among  the  Salish  and  again 
among  the  Iroquois  in  less  definite  pattern  associations.  Against  its  accep- 


84  Anthropological  Papers  American  Museum  of  Natural  History.  [Vol.  XVII, 

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tance  may  be  offered  the  supposition  that  the  adjustment  is  no  thing-,  but 
a  natural  process  of  economizing  in  material,  and  that  since  the  form  of  a 
skin  was  everywhere  the  same  such  methods  would  result  as  a  matter  oft 
course.  On  the  other  hand,  if  we  look  at  North  American  costume  as  a 
whole  we  may  see  that  tailoring,  or  cutting  of  materials  to  fit  the  body  has 
but  a  limited  distribution.  It  is  among  the  Eskimo  that  tailoring  reaches 
a  high  standard,  the  patterns  seemingly  adjusted  to  the  lines  of  the  body 
and  the  demands  of  decoration  without  regard  to  the  natural  contour  of 
the  material.  Even  among  the  Dene  peoples  the  tendency  is  marked  as 
shown  in  certain  sketches  by  Dr.  Hatt.1  In  all  these  garments  we  find  a 
cut  so  devised  as  to  fit  the  coat  to  the  neck  and  shoulders.  Of  this  the 
man's  and  woman's  garment  of  the  Plains  is  innocent,  the  top  of  the  gar 
ment  being  straight.  It  is  also  quite  noticeable  that  certain  Salish  woman's 
costumes  have  this  straight  cut  and  even  Naskapi  coats  approach  it.  On 
the  other  hand,  as  we  have  noted,  some  Salish  and  Iroquois  coats  show 
tailoring  and  shoulder  fitting. 

Now  it  appears  that  the  two-skin  garment  is  not  conceived  upon  tailor 
ing  lines  but  rather  upon  draping  the  figure,  or  hanging  a  covering  over  it. 
The  tendency  to  make  the  most  of  the  natural  material  is  thus  after  all  a 
part  of  the  process  and  if  it  does  occur  in  different  localities,  we  find  it  as 
part  of  a  concept  complex  in  which  the  idea  of  tailoring  is  not  found.  We 
may,  therefore,  assume  that  the  two-skin  method  indicates  the  presence 
of  an  unfitted  body  covering,  usually  without  attached  sleeves.  The  center 
of  distribution  for  this  type  seems  to  have  been  the  Plains. 

Now  let  us  see  to  what  this  discussion  has  brought  us.  In  reviewing 
the  data  we  had  reason  to  doubt  historical  connections  between  the  detached 
sleeves  and  coat  garments  farther  north,  but  on  the  other  hand,  there  was 
good  ground  for  assuming  a  historical  connection  between  the  sleeves  of  the 
Ojibway  type  and  those  found  upon  women's  dresses,  among  the  Nez  Perce 
and  vicinity.  Again,  the  use  of  two  skins  as  a  structural  concept  appears 
to  be  independent  of  the  tailoring  methods  of  the  north  and  to  center  in  the 
Plains. 

We  are  sometimes  puzzled  because,  while  the  point  of  view  in  modern 
ethnology  professes  to  be  historical,  we  often  find  no  historical  data  avail 
able.  Thus  we  may  be  challenged  to  show  how  one  can  form  any  safe 
conclusion  as  to  the  origin  of  these  types  of  costume  in  the  absence  of  his 
toric  data.  The  place  of  the  latter  is  often  taken  by  archaeological  data, 
but  in  this  case  there  are  none.  Yet,  there  are  some  historical  data.  The 
Blackfoot,  for  example,  claim  to  have  taken  to  the  sleeveless  Plains  type 

1  Hatt,   Gudmund,  Arktiske  Skinddragter  i  Eurasien  og  Amerika,  K0benhavn,  1914. 


1915.]  Wissler,  Plains  Costume.  85 

of  woman's  dress  recently;  the  Cheyenne  were  observed  in  1820  vacillating 
between  two  forms  of  costume  and  later  going  over  entirely  to  the  Plains 
type.  Among  the  Salish  the  chronology  of  the  types  is  not  clear,  but  we 
infer  that  the  Plains  type  was  used  so  long  ago  that  it  does  not  appear  in 
Museum  collections.  Since  the  time  of  Carver  the  Eastern  Dakota  seem 
to  have  shifted  from  the  O  jib  way  type  to  that  of  the  Plains.  The  Assini- 
boin  are  first  credited  with  the  Ojibway  type.  This  rather  clearly  restricts 
the  origin  of  the  Plains  type  to  the  Nez  Perce,  Crow,  Mandan,  Hidatsa, 
Arapaho,  Kiowa,  and  some  of  the  Shoshoni  and  since  these  form  a  contig 
uous  geographical  group,  the  trait  is  as  closely  localized  as  we  can  expect. 

In  precisely  the  same  manner  we  may  treat  the  data  for  the  shirt.  Our 
collections  show  that  the  older  specimens  are  of  the  characteristic  type 
(Fig.  7 a)  and  that  the  newer  pieces  tend  toward  coat  styles.  Then  we  have 
historical  data  restricting  this  shirt  formerly  to  a  triangular  area  comprising 
little  more  than  Idaho,  Montana,  and  Wyoming  in  the  United  States  but  a 
much  more  extensive  area  in  Canada. 

It  may  then  be  asked  if  we  have  not  arrived  at  a  historical  conclusion 
by  direct  means  and  if  this  is  not  a  conclusion  beyond  the  range  of  a  com 
parative  distribution  of  specimens?  The  answer  to  this  has  been  given 
above,  when  we  reached  essentially  the  same  result  by  a  comparative  study 
of  specimens  alone.  Yet,  the  value  of  historical  data  is  very  great  and  the 
moral  of  the  case  is  that  such  data  are  usually  to  be  had  for  the  seeking. 
Ethnological  data  are  based  upon  direct  observation  or  testimony  and  so 
are  historic.  Archaeological  data  are  quite,  different  for  they  introduce 
relative  chronology  as  interpreted  from  physical  conditions. 

Now  that  we  have  some  of  the  complexities  of  this  problem  in  hand, 
we  may  try  to  summarize  the  arguments.  In  the  first  place,  we  have 
established  one  so-called  genetic  fact  in  that  whoever  devised  the  types  of 
dress  in  the  Plains  arrived  at  the  particular  style  from  the  concept  of  a  two- 
skin  garment;  and  that  the  style  was  in  the  beginning  accidental,  but  once 
established  survived  the  abandonment  of  the  two-skin  idea.  It  should 
be  noted  that  this  is  quite  another  matter  from  accounting  for  the  origin 
of  costume  as  such,  for  though  there  is  a  strong  probability  that  the  two- 
skin  idea  centers  in  the  Plains,  it  would  be  absurd  to  assume  that  it  grew 
out  of  an  original  discovery  of  dress  in  the  same  locality.  Taking  our 
archaeological  knowledge  of  North  America  as  it  stands,  we  may  be  sure 
that  the  first  inhabitants  of  the  Plains  had  well  developed  costume  com 
plexes.  Hence,  the  only  reasonable  hypothesis  we  can  form  is  that  the 
two-skin  garment  arose  when  someone  set  about  making  economical  use 
of  deerskins.  We  have  noted  how  the  poncho  idea  seems  to  precede  the 
two-skin  and  how  an  effort  was  made  to  add  sleeves  to  a  true  poncho.  Our 


86  Anthropological  Papers  American  Museum  of  Natural  History.  [Vol.  XVII,. 

I 

interpretation  is  therefore,  that  if  any  original  idea  arose  in  the  Plains  it 
was  the  two-skin  concept,  but  that  if  so,  the  inventor  simply  used  it  to 
create  a  garment  that  combined  the  ideas  of  a  poncho  and  a  coat.  The 
analysis  of  the  geographical  distribution  shows  that,  along  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains  in  the  region  traversed  by  Shoshonean  and  Shahaptian  peoples,  this 
type  of  garment  arose.  It  was  not  universal  since  many  groups  used  exten 
sively  garments  of  another  type  made  from  woven  materials.  To  the  south 
stretching  over  parts  of  two  continents  was  the  great  textile  area  where 
ponchos  and  sleeveless  garments  were  the  mode.  To  the  north  were  the 
Dene  and  Northern  Algonkin  tribes  fringing  the  Eskimo,  the  great  area  of 
tailored  skin  coats.  The  most  probable  thing  is  therefore  that  the  poncho 
of  the  south  was  first  introduced  to  the  Shoshoni,  Shahaptian,  and  Salish 
as  a  part  of  their  textile  development,  but  they  were  a  hunting  people  in 
contact  with  a  great  area  of  skin  coat  wearers  and  so  necessitated  an  adjust 
ment.  The  compromises  they  made  have  been  outlined  in  the  previous 
discussion. 

All  questions  of  trait  origins  should  remind  us  of  an  important  problem, 
the  actual  content  of  a  tribe's  (social  group  unit)  individuality,  or  the  in 
tegrity  of  its  culture.  Suppose  we  take  the  woman's  dress  and  see  in  how 
far,  if  at  all,  each  of  the  tribes  has  individuality.  If  we  take  the  pattern 
outline  of  dresses  we  note  certain  differences  but  relatively  lUtle  variation 
within  the  tribe.  A  glance  at  the  map  (Fig.  27)  will  show  how  these  are 

I  distributed.  The  two  distinctive  parts  are  the  bottoms  of  the  skirts  and 
the  shoulder  extensions.  Yet  even  in  this  respect  a  tribe  can  scarcely  claim 
individuality  for  the  Sarsi,  Blackfoot,  Assiniboin,  and  Nez  Perce  are  the 
same.  Again  we  find  the  Cheyenne,  Arapaho,  and  Kiowa  quite  identical. 
The  Dakota  and  Shoshoni  form  another  group.  The  Hidatsa,  Crow,  Ute, 
and  Apache  have  something  in  common  also.  The  important  point,  how 
ever,  is  that  these  have  a  geographical  grouping  rather  than  a  random  one, 
thus  precluding  the  idea  of  a  chance  agreement. 

In  shoulder. forms  there  is  a  little  more  variation  within  the  tribe  and 
some  more  individuality.  Thus  in  Fig.  28  are  all  the  forms  we  found  and 
a  list  of  the  tribes  using  them.  The  prevailing  forms  are  shown  in  Fig.  27. 
The  Dakota  have  two  patterns  but  one  of  these  is  suspiciously  like  the  man's 
shirt,  while  the  other  is  almost  identical  with  the  Cheyenne'  cut.  In  the 
case  of  the  Blackfoot,  Assiniboin,  and  Hidatsa  on  one  side  and  the  Arapaho, 
Shoshoni,  Kiowa,  and  Apache  on  the  other,  we  have  again  geographical 
grouping. 

If  we  take  the  patterns  for  cloth  dresses,  or  those  made  of  heavy  stroud- 
ing,  we  find  precise  uniformity  throughout.  The  cut  is  plain  and  rec 
tangular,  Fig.  21. 


1915.]  Wissler,  Plains  Costume.  87 

It  is  thus  clear  that  exact  tribal  individuality  will  be  limited  to  very  \J 
trivial  and  inessential  features  of  the  pattern  and  often  lost  in  the  range  of 
inter-tribal  variation. 

The  man's  shirt  presents  greater  variation,  but  again  we  find  the  bottom 


fc? 


Fig.  27.     Distribution  of  the  Plains  Type  of  Woman's  Dress. 

of  the  garment  distinctive,  the  several  types  and  their  distribution  being 
given  in  Figs.  7-9.  It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  the  specimens 
following  patterns  of  Figs.  7 a  and  b  are  the  oldest  in  the  collection  and 
that  the  many  and  widely  distributed  coat-like  patterns  of  Fig.  9  are  dis- 


Anthropological  Papers  American  Museum  of  Natural  History.  [Vol.  XVII, 


j 

Fig.  28.  Cape  Patterns  for  Women.  These  are  schematic  and  not  accurately  drawn 
from  particular  specimens  as  in  Figs.  19  and  20.  The  observed  distributions  are  as  follows:  — 
a  Crow;  6  Jicarilla  Apache,  Nez  Perce,  and  Yakima;  c  Taos;  d  Assiniboin  and  Sarsi;  e  and  / 
Dakota;  g  Cheyenne;  h  Assiniboin,  Blackfoot,  and  Hidatsa;  i  Arapaho,  Apache,  Kiowa 
.and  Shoshoni;  ;  Ute. 


1915.]  Wissler,  Plains  Costume.  89 

tinctly  recent.  Yet,  making  due  allowance  for  this  disturbing  factor  there 
still  appears  a  tendency  toward  geographical  grouping  in  variations  of  the 
older  patterns  while  the  others  seem  to  be  almost  universally  distributed. 

The  sleeves  of  shirts  are  somewhat  analogous.  The  older  specimens 
follow  the  forms  of  Figs.  7 a  and  b  while  the  newer  ones  tend  to  the  simple 
parallelogram  cut  of  Fig.  9  which  is  found  among  all  tribes. 

Thus  we  find  that  none  of  these  details  in  pattern  or  cut  can  be  exclu 
sively  assigned  to  a  single  tribal  group  but  are  found  more  or  less  continu 
ously  distributed.  This  distribution  is  much  more  restricted  than  that  of 
the  fundamental  pattern  which  we  have  shown  to  prevail  in  the  Plains,  but 
still  indicates  considerable  diffusion.  Should  one  be  minute  enough  and 
possess  a  sufficient  number  of  examples  it  would  be  possible  to  isolate  further 
individualities  but  these  seem  to  be  little  more  than  the  personal  equations 
of  the  individual  cutters.  A  generalized  view  would  be  that  the  funda 
mental  pattern  is  widely  diffused  and  the  secondary  features  less  so.  We 
have  seen  how  the  Plains  type  inter-relates  to  the  Ojibway  type,  etc.,  which 
indicates  that  we  are  dealing  with  a  true  complex  in  which  the  more  funda 
mental  the  idea  the  wider  the  distribution. 

Investigations  of  this  character  are  revealing  what  may  prove  to  be  an 
important  general  method  in  the  study  of  culture.  We  have  in  the  course 
of  this  discussion  developed  the  specific  fact  that  centered  in  the  Plains  we 
find  a  mixed  type  of  costume  which  upon  analysis  presents  fundamental 
elements  prevailing  in  two  great  contiguous  areas.  Were  this  the  only 
case  of  the  kind  it  would  have  nothing  more  than  a  specific  significance  but 
a  similar  condition  is  found  in  some  other  traits  noted  in  the  writer's  dis 
cussion  of  material  culture.1  In  the  concluding  sections  to  Volume  XI  of 
this  series,  the  same  condition  is  found  with  respect  to  certain  shamanistic 
concepts  and  societies;  hence,  it  is  not  merely  a  characteristic  of  material 
culture  but  one  of  general  application.  We  have  shown  in  the  preceding 
and  the  discussion  of  societies  just  cited,  that  recognizing  this  as  a  point  of 
departure  we  can  by  analytic  comparisons  arrive  at  fairly  satisfactory  con 
clusions  as  to  the  historical  and  chronological  relations  of  the  traits  involved. 
It  seems  therefore  that  when  we  find  a  trait  complex  showing  intermediate 
forms  and  associations  between  the  complexes  of  two  geographically  opposite 
areas,  we  may  safely  assume  that  its  origin  is  due  to  the  assimilation  of 
borrowed  concepts. 

1  American  Anthropologist,  vol.  16. 


90  Anthropological  Papers  American  Museum  of  Natural  History.  [Vol.  XVII, 


SUMMARY. 

v 

Some  of  the  points  of  general  significance  developed  in  the  preceding 
discussion  may  be  formulated  as  follows :  — 

1.  We  have  satisfactory  proof  that  the  characteristic  style  of  garments 
for  both  men  and  women  in  the  Plains  area,  was  suggested  by  the  natural 
contour  of  the  materials  used,  or  rather  resulted  from  an  economic  use  of 
the  same.     It  is  also  shown  how  quickly  the  features  determined  by  the 
shape  of  the  original  materials  disappeared  when  trade  cloth  came  into  use, 
though  the  fundamental  pattern  remains  the  same,  indicating  that  this 
pattern  or  general  concept  was  one  of  structure  rather  than  of  adapted 
material.     This  leads  one  to  suspect  that  the  pattern  concept  came  first  to 
a  skin-using  people  from  some  external  source,  most  likely  from  the  textile 
ponchos  of  the  south. 

2.  The  concept  of  tailoring,  or  cutting  a  garment  to  follow  the  lines  of 
the  shoulder  and  trunk  is  found  in  America  only  among  the  coat-wearing 
tribes :  viz.,  the  Eskimo,  a  few  northern  Algonkin,  and  the  Dene,  with  minor 
representation  among  the  Iroquois  and  interior  Salish.     Our  data  show 
how  the  idea  tends  to  spread  by  increasing  contact  with  Europeans.     In 
the  Old  World  tailoring  appears  again  among  the  more  primitive  peoples 
of  the  north,  but  in  historic  peoples  first  among  the  Chinese.     Its  appear 
ance  in  Western  Europe  is  relatively  recent.     The  idea  of  tailoring  cloth 
seems  not  to  have  been  developed  by  people  anywhere  except  in  Central 
Asia.     It  seems  probable  that  the  extensive  use  of  the  toga-like  garment 
and  the  rectangular  poncho,  especially  the  latter,  was  due  to  the  limitations 
of  the  weaving  process  and  that  here  again  the  unavoidable  rectangular 
contour  of  textiles  is  responsible  for  the  fundamental  similarities  of  styles. 
The  Chinese  on  the  other  hand,  escaped  from  these  limitations  by  the  de 
velopment  of  tailoring.     This  presents  another  important  problem:  viz., 
did  some  of  the  northern  tribes  invent  tailoring  out  of  the  necessity  of  the 
case  or  borrow  it  from  some  more  highly  cultured  people  in  Central  Asia? 
One  may  suspect  that  the  Chinese  were  the  borrowers,  but  in  the  absence 
of  investigation  this  should  be  given  little  weight.     In  any  case  in  the  New 
World  we  find  these  two  contrasting  types  of  garment  structure,  tailoring 
prevailing  in  the  far  north  and  the  opposite  in  the  remainder  of  the  conti 
nent,  including  the  area  of  specialized  textiles. 

3.  In  respect  to  the  area  covered  by  the  detailed  comparisons  in  the 
preceding,  it  is  clear  that  scarcely  a  single  important  feature  of  a  given 
garment  is  peculiar  to  a  single  tribe  but  that  two  or  more  in  geographical 
continuity  share  it  equally.     It  also  appears  that  the  more  fundamental  a 


1915.]  Wissler,  Plains  Costume.  91 

given  feature,  the  wider  its  distribution.  In  other  words,  a  tribe's  indi 
viduality  is  merged  into  the  mere  personal  variations  of  individual  workers, 
and  so  far  as  these  specific  traits  go,  the  limits  of  the  social  group  have  no 
significance.  Perhaps  after  all  it  is  only  in  traits  of  culture  where  several 
individuals  must  actively  cooperate,  as  in  ritualistic  performance,  that  the 
social  unit  is  of  consequence;  or,  unless  the  social  unit  as  such  functions 
in  a  trait  in  contrast  to  individuals,  may  we  expect  the  bounds  of  the  social 
unit  to  correspond  with  the  bounds  of  the  trait  in  question. 

4.  The  preceding  data  may  also  serve  as  an  approach  to  a  question  of 
validity  in  evidence.     Thus,  we  may  ask  in  how  far  mere  comparative 
studies  in  the  forms  and  distributions  of  traits  can  give  light  upon  the  his 
torical  associations  of  traits?     The  suggestion  in  this  case  is  that  if  the 
search  is  pushed  far  enough,  the  necessary  data  for  a  satisfactory  conclusion 
may  be  found.     For  perishable  objects,  such  as  costume,  real  historic  data 
is  usually  obtainable;  for  the  more  durable,  as  stone,  ceramics,  etc.,  archae 
ological  methods  give  a  definite  relative  chronology.     Another  important 
problem  is  as  to  the  determination  of  genetic  relationships  in  technological 
processes  by  a  logical  analysis  of  the  concepts  involved.     Within  the  limits 
of  this  study  this  is  little  more  than  a  restatement  of  the  above  historical 
problem  since  the  specific  point  is  as  to  which  of  these  types  of  dress,  or 
parts  of  dress,  as  sleeves,  yoke,  etc.,  suggested  or  developed  into  the  other; 
but  when  extended  to  the  clothing  of  the  continent  or  the  world,  tends  more 
and  more  to  be  purely  a  problem  of  genetic  relationship.     The  scope  of  the 
preceding  investigation  is  too  limited  to  give  a  concrete  example  of  this 
problem,  and  while  it  suggests  the  great  difficulty  of  arriving  at  the  truth 
without  the  aid  of  supplementary  historical  data,  it  does  suggest  that  the 
future  may  see  developed  a  few  principles  of  culture  diffusion  which  taken 
with  the  analysis  of  technological  concepts  will  lead  to  safe  conclusion  as 
to  their  genesis. 

5.  Finally  we  have  found  in  this  material  trait  a  good  case  of  culture 
diffusion.     That  the  secondary  features  such  as  cut  of  skirt-bottoms,  sleeves, 
etc.,  when  found  to  be  the  same  for  two  or  more  tribes  are  so  because  of 
tribal  independence  in  invention,  is  scarcely  admissible  because  of  the 
observed  geographical  continuity.     A  random  repetition  of  specific  inven 
tions  should  also  have  a  random  distribution  to  be  consistent  with  the  laws 
of  accident.     Likewise  the  fundamental  structural  concept  which  underlies 
these  secondary  concepts  while  very  widely  distributed  is  also  continuous, 
whence  it  follows  that  the  diffusion  hypothesis  is  the  most  acceptable.     We 
do  find  one  disconnected  locality  for  the  two-skin  concept  among  the  Iro- 
quois;  but  since  these  people  were  great  travelers  and  had  other  costume 
concepts  in  general  use,  we  may  hesitate  to  credit  them  with  its  independent 
invention. 


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